Census: Aboriginals struggle to maintain indigenous languages

Christopher Curtis, Postmedia News10.24.2012

Kate Chilton looks at a book in class at the first-ever First Nations CEGEP in Quebec, the Kiuna Institution, in Odanak just east of Sorel-Tracy Wednesday, August 31, 2011 north-east of Montreal. On the left is Marylene Flamand. (John Kenney / THE GAZETTE)

OTTAWA — The Kahnawake Mohawks pull out all the stops when it comes to preserving their language.

Street signs on the Montreal-area reserve are in Mohawk, three schools offer Mohawk immersion programs, the local radio station hosts a Mohawk talk show and there’s even a cable access program nicknamed the “Mohawk Muppets.”

But despite their best efforts, residents of the territory are still struggling to keep the pre-colonial language thriving. Only 545 Canadians claim Mohawk as their mother tongue, according to 2011 census data released Wednesday.

“When you understand your language, it gives you a sense of pride and a greater sense of self,” said Ka-nahsohon Deer, principle of the Karonhianonhnha Mohawk immersion school. “There was a time when we thought we might lose our language but we’re heading in the right direction. We just have our work cut out for us.”

While data show a growing number of Aboriginal speakers in Quebec, Manitoba, Saskatchewan and other provinces, the latest census paints a bleak portrait for the future of native dialects in Canada.

About 213,500 Canadians are native speakers of an aboriginal language – virtually unchanged since 2006 but a nine per cent increase since 2001. However, that statistical jump coincides with a 20-per-cent rise in the population of native people in Canada between 2001 and 2006.

In other words, while the number of aboriginal people is growing, an increasingly smaller percentage of them claim an aboriginal language as their mother tongue. Overall, only 18 per cent of Canada’s 1.17 million aboriginal people are first-language speakers of an Indigenous dialect.

“We’ve been teaching immersion classes since 1984, in many cases children are educated in Mohawk for six years before they’re taught in English but it’s still an uphill battle,” Deer said. “Whether it’s television, the Internet or just being across the river from Montreal, we’re surrounded by non-aboriginal languages.”

The largest aboriginal language family in Canada is Algonquian, with 144,015 people claiming a dialect as their mother tongue. Cree and Ojibwa are the two most popular branches of the linguistic family.

“The (Algonquian) language is at the very heart of our identity as a people,” Wemotaci Grand Chief David Boivin told Postmedia News in a recent interview. “It has a richness to it, it connects us to nature and to our traditions.”

Like most of the communities that speak an Algonquian dialect, Wemotaci lies deep within Canada’s wilderness. The northern Quebec territory is only accessible by a long trudge down a logging road or up the St. Maurice River.

Although unemployment and poverty remain problematic in the community of about 1,300, an overwhelming majority of the village speaks Algonquian as a first language, and traditional practices such as hunting and fishing remain common on the reserve.

“There’s poverty, yes, but there’s a kind of wealth you retain when you can hold onto your identity,” Boivin said.

Boivin’s dialect of Algonquin, called Atikamekw, has the highest retention rate among all First Nations languages. About 98 per cent of people who claim the dialect as their mother tongue will continue to speak it at home throughout their lives. However, only about 5,900 Canadians speak the 13,000-year-old language.

About 60 aboriginal languages from 12 linguistic families are spoken in Canada.

The lack of momentum in moving forward aboriginal language-learning nationwide drew fire from federal interim Liberal leader Bob Rae. “I’m very concerned about what we’re seeing with respect to the loss of aboriginal languages and the fact that the government of Canada has no policy at all with respect to maintaining aboriginal languages and culture across the country. I think that’s very significant,” he said.

Some who do speak indigenous languages are enthusiastic about their skills.

Kelli McLarty, a teaching student at the University of Lethbridge, believes her ability to speak Inuktitut will give her an edge with prospective employers once she graduates. “It’s almost going to guarantee me a job up North,” says McLarty, who isn’t Inuk but grew up immersed in the culture after moving to Nunavut as a child.

“I can speak to Inuit from Greenland, from Alaska, Northern Labrador or Northern Quebec, because we all share a different dialect but the same language … Speaking the language is the Number One tie to a culture.”

Randy Morin, a high school teacher from Saskatoon, describes himself as part of the final generation that grew up conversing entirely in Cree. But the 34-year-old is working hard to change that, both in his community – he volunteers as a Cree instructor once a week – and in his home, where he addresses his four-year-old son exclusively in their native tongue.

“That will be my legacy to him,” says Morin, who grew up in Big River First Nation.

“This language shaped who I am. I have a greater connection to the natural world, the spiritual world, because of it … I’m fulfilling what my ancestors wanted.”

– With files from Misty Harris, Postmedia News

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